Power to Defend
by Bktalks22
Summary: A seven year old Luffy after helplessly witnessing Sabo die sets his mind to training to protect everyone dear to him. He recruits even more friends to his crew but there is a mysterious fiend lurking behind the crew looking the derail their voyage towards the One Piece and claim the title of Pirate King for himself. OP!Luffy, Smartish!Luffy, DF!Luffy.
1. Resolution

I do not own One Piece. All characters and arcs from the original story belongs to Eiichiro Oda. I maintain rights over OCs present in this story.

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Chapter 1 - Resolution

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Soft daylight filtering through the windows of the bandit's hideout was like the blaring beams from a lighthouse to the young boy who was currently laying on the hardwood floors on top of a fair layer of blankets.

His eyes fluttered open and scrunched his face from the piercing headache that began to pound at his skull. As if it wasn't enough, a deep burning pain washed over his body in his attempt to shift his limbs to see if they are still attached.

Letting loose dry hacking cough, he awakened with a groan.

"…! Luffy? Hey are you awake?" whispered one of the mountain bandits running to his side. No longer able to continue sleeping, Luffy shook head slowly trying to clear the drowsiness way from his mind.

"Hey guys! Luffy's awake!" A sudden rush of pounding footsteps roused him to sit up.

He was surrounded by the Mt. Corbo bandits who all bore on their faces various expressions of concern and relief. They asked him if he way okay and if he was hungry since the kid's notorious appetite was probably eating him up. Some pat his back and laughed ruffling his hair however the excitement was cut short once the matriarch made her appearance.

"Outta my way," said Dadan shoving the men to the side with her large body hobbling towards the waking boy. Looking her over, she too appeared heavily injured and was covered with so much bandaging wrapped around her visible limbs she almost looked like a mummy. The rest of her bandaging was hidden under her off-white buttoned blouse and green plaid pants.

Luffy hoarsely asked, "Ace...?"

She plucks her cigarette out of her mouth to exhale the smoke out then placed it back in between her teeth. "He is fine. He's sleeping right next to you in fact."

He quickly peered around to find at his right, Ace who was laying on a similar makeshift bed completely wrapped up in bandages, not unlike his own condition. Luffy's widened eyes teared up, "Ace?" His body protested from the sudden movement so he crawled that short distance and leaned over to his brother's side. The commotion soon woke Ace up when the bandits once again rejoiced that the boys and Dadan all survived and were well. As well as they could be considering the grievous burns they managed to sustain.

"Nguuh... Luffy?" Ace opened his eyes to see his brother who at first wore a worried look on his face, but upon seeing Ace waking up glaring at the daylight too, quickly changed to a bright grin with tears running and snot leaking from his nose coating his upper lip.

"AAAACE!" He cried lunging to hug his brother.

"Ouch! Stop that I still hurt!" Ace scowled, shoving him away and sat up with a grunt. Luffy sat up too, sniffling and wiped away the snot with his forearm. He watched him with his large innocent eyes. "What're you crying for? Did you think I died or something?"

"Well…" Luffy whimpered.

Ace punched his head. "Don't kill me off you idiot!" He hacked afterwards as a result of the dryness in his throat and the force of raising his voice.

"Enough arguing you brats! It's because of you two I almost died!" Dadan took a deep breath with her eyes shut and opened them to glare at the two. "Anyways, seeing as you both look like you went through hell, you are to stay here until you look decent or Garp is going to really kill me." At the last bit she muttered under her breath.

"WHAT?" They both yelled, appalled at her demand. "You can't stop us!" Challenged Ace.

"Sure I can. I can get you both tied up and forced to not move a muscle or you can be manageable boys and stay nearby so we can treat your burns. So that means no going deep into the forest where we can't find you."

Ace groaned at the pain that shot throughout his body as he struggled to get up on his feet. He glared at Dadan once he straightened up. "You're crazy if you think we are gonna have to stay here with you. I can take care of me and Luffy without your help."

"And with what are you going to treat those burns? The leaves you find in the forest? The mushrooms that you once thought were food but instead made you sick? Your judgment is not that good and you always come back to us for our medicine."

Ace carefully sat back down on his makeshift bed and crossed his arms with a huff. He couldn't think of anything better to defend himself. He was indeed bad when it came to getting medical attention. It was all trial and error. All of the bandages and salves where at Dadan's place and it worked really well. Plus, he needed to think about Luffy too. He would lie saying he's okay and try to be convincing but he always ended up complaining about a nasty cut here or a giant bruise there. Besides, they could use the help to get rid of the pain from the burns.

The boys hung their heads and sighed in defeat. Dadan made herself comfortable sitting down onto a mat that was across from where the boys had been placed.

"Well thank goodness you all made it," said Magra, "that fire was ruthless and pretty terrifying."

"I think a lot of people died in that fire." Said another one of the bandits.

"I could barely see, the smoke was so heavy in the air!"

Ace clenched his fists and leaned his head until his hair shadowed his face. He and Luffy were tricked into planting those boxes of oil and gunpowder, setting fire to the Grey Terminal. The damn Bluejam pirates they stupidly agreed to helping were bribed to do it by the nobles. A ton of people whose livelihood depended on the trash left by the nobles died last night. Why? They didn't do anything. The people who lived at the Grey Terminal were pushed out of the kingdom by those same nobles, forced to survive on their trash.

"And I know why they must have done this. Remember the newspaper you were reading a couple of days ago?" Shared Dogra, looking a Dadan.

The three sitting on the ground as well as the rest of the bandits looked at him expecting some explanation but it only took a second as Dadan remembered and her face turned into a scowl.

"That's right. The damn guests they have coming to visit."

This caught the attention of the two brothers.

"Who?" Inquired Ace. Luffy was beyond confused. He scratched his bandaged forehead and sat in silence letting them talk about whoever or whatever it was. Everyone was being so cryptic about why the fire happened.

"Actually," said Dogra with a little pension, "they are arriving to the Goa kingdom today at noon. I was planning on seeing for myself the commotion that these people talk so highly about. I can't help feeling a little curious to know what they look like."

Ace immediately stood up and clenched his fists. "Take me with you! I have to see the bastard that caused this!"

"Me too me too!" Yelled Luffy jumping up.

"WHAT did I just say?! Both of you are not going anywhere until you both can handle a single poke in your sides." She proceeded to jab a finger to their rib. They loudly complained and hissed.

It was more of a jab than a poke but it still proved her point.

"Dadan we have to go! It's because of them that the Grey Terminal was set on fire and I refuse to move on without knowing at least what those bastards look like."

"We…?" Luffy's eyes widened.

"Yea I think you deserve to know too. We were both involved and almost died in the fire so, don't get too excited."

Luffy paused then changed to look at Dadan with determination. "DADAN! YOU CAN'T STOP US. WE REALLY WANT TO KNOW."

She could be adamant too but Magra reasoned, "Dadan, they barely agreed to stay here to treat their burns, maybe if we give them this chance they would listen to us."

She hummed raising a brow and nodded her head. "Alright then, I've decided you can go with Dogra and Magra to see them."

"Yes!" they cheered.

"But when you come back you will listen to what I say until I say that you are healed!"

With the aid of the other bandits, up in a cloak to hide their bandages as best they could and set out on a trail that lead directly to the kingdom.

It was a peaceful hike down the mountain. Nothing but the sound of tree branches waving by the influence of the coastal wind and the footsteps of their feet crunching the leaves below them. Trees lined the path which allowed for more sunlight to illuminate the trail so it was easy to follow.

"Hey Ace?"

"Yea Luffy?"

"Do you think Sabo saw the fire?"

"Of course he did you idiot. The fire was massive and it was all around the gate."

The smell of smoke began to permeate in the fresh breeze.

"…He would've helped us fight blue-head and we could've gotten out of the fire sooner-"

"Would've, could've, it doesn't matter. We are okay now and Sabo had made his choice. He wanted to go back and live with his parents again."

Another pause filled the silence. Then he began again, "you think he is worried?"

"Yea… Of course he is."

The conversation had come to an end once they set foot on the Grey Terminal at the end of their trail. There was nothing left. It looked like a barren desert with the various piles of ash to the ground however there was a sense of order by the way it was swept. Its' grey color like its' namesake harbored a heavy stench of smoke and something metallic.

"Whoa," whispered Luffy. "Everything is gone… " His gaze reached all the way to the coast which held an indentation that reached almost to the center of the terminal. His brow furrows.

"Let's keep going," said Magra while patting Luffy's back, "we still have to go through the gates to reach the west docks."

Upon passing the outskirts of the walled kingdom towards central town, people were increasingly bustling towards the west docks and around a raised path that lead to High Town. The group decided to head for the edge of the docks so they followed along the raised red carpet where most people had situated themselves as well.

It was the beginning of spring and the air felt that perfect combination of a cool breeze and a warm ray of sunshine that made it perfect for travel to sail in luxury. Noon struck and the sun high in the sky shined on the massive crowd that had gathered at the docks. Excited citizens were chattering away, many had dressed up for the occasion wearing the finest fabrics and designs that exemplified their status. The royal guard of the Goa kingdom were standing by, ready to clear the way until The Guests came.

Ace, Luffy, Dogra and Magra weaved through the crowd to where the sea met the Goa kingdom's docks. Some people complained at the kids shoving since they lead the way but the excitement of the event soon quelled any and all disturbances.

...There they were.

In the distance came a ship that appeared to be a galleon with a wooden hull with brilliant white borders and tiered cobalt blue cabins decorated in gold and silver. In addition to the absurd opulence was a figurehead of a gold lion posed on a white mount wearing a crown. The foremost sail had a symbol of a cross with equal radius and the four corners topped with solid circles as well as in the middle. The boys had to squint their eyes to even look at it. It looked so fancy and clean and new… where the ship came from must have an overabundance of wealth.

Finally The Guests got close enough that the crowd began to cheer. Their excitement tangible as they watch the ship near the docks. The royal guard began to part the crowd and Ace and Luffy as well as Dogra and Magra struggled to keep their place. But then…

"Wait a minute…" said Dogara. He took out a golden collapsible binoculars.

There was another boat, a tiny sloop that was sailing towards the ship.

A few onlookers shouted, "Hey who is that?"

"Is that a kid?"

"Hey! That's my boat! He stole my fishing boat!"

"Get out of there!"

"Hey who is that? Who is everyone talking about?" Asked Ace. The boys lifted a hand above their eyes as they struggled to see who was out there.

"Wait a minute...is that Sabo?" Said Dogara.

"WHAT?" Yelled the two boys. "Lemme see!" Ace yanked the binoculars out of his hands.

Focusing the lens, a tiny sloop was indeed in the waters close to the massive ship however it had changed it's direction to move out of the way. Thanks to the binoculars, Ace was able to pick out his blue hat and blonde hair.

"Is it really Sabo!?" Luffy pulled at his brother's cloak and gave a toothy grin.

"It is! It's Sabo!" Ace was just as happy to see him sharing a grin of his own but then his face slowly fell and brows furrowed.

He was relieved to see him but at the same time confused. What was he doing out there? What happened to staying with his parents? Ace then focused on the ship next to it and a vague shape of a person dressed in white came to the side but held some kind of weapon in their hand.

An explosion spontaneously ignited a side of the tiny ship.

The crowd gasped and stood dumbstruck at the sudden destruction.

Another explosion struck the shipwreck, splintering it further into fiery chunks. Not much was left seen other than the fire kept afloat by planks of wood that had yet sunk along with the rest of the boat.

The citizens eyes were wide and their previous excitement dimmed but only for a moment. They began to shout and jump for joy with equal vigour.

Ace's arm became limp and Luffy quickly grabbed the binoculars before it fell and peered into it. The boat was engulfed by an unforgiving inferno giving no sign of hope that Sabo could have survived it. He searched the water but the debris was pushed further away by the disrupted waves. Luffy looked to his brother in paralyzed distress but his attention was directed towards The Guest who finally docked and began walking towards the gates. He looked absolutely livid with his teeth bared and back in a hunch, Ace pushed his way towards the edge of the guarded pathway.

"Whoa wait Ace, don't get too close!" Warned Magra while chasing him through the crowd.

Luffy was silent and quickly followed Ace along with Dogra to see what he was doing. They paused right behind him as he was standing at the edge of the guarded pathway.

There they were but only one stood out from the rest. He is dressed in white robes, a strange hat that appeared to be made out of glass encompassed their head and a strange hairstyle that curled up high like some kind of antenna.

The four stood there watching as The Guest made his way to central town surrounded by his own entourage of bodyguards, servants and soldiers lent from the Goa kingdom itself. However looking upon this person as he neared them was the next most disturbing thing to behold. The Guest was riding on top of a battered person who is crawling on their hands and knees in shackles, struggling to move forward with the hefty weight on his back. His skin was covered in sweat, raw knees covered in scabs and bruises from the pressure of crawling for what appeared to be a prolonged amount of time. To further take away any dignity he had left, he was wearing nothing but white shorts to protect him.

Ace, Luffy, Magra, and Dogra's attention shifted when the row of royal guards men lift their trumpets to play a short tune which blared to momentarily quiet the crowd.

On cue once the citizens became quite, the town crier with the help of transponder snails situated in the arms of some of the royal guardsmen, announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, to all nobles from across this kingdom, we are here to welcome our Guest from the Holy Land of-"

"Hurry up! Any day now! I am getting bored by the second," yelled The Guest.

Now shivering with sweat beginning to condense on his forehead, the town crier uttered his quick apologies and continued, "Here presenting us with his grace is the illustrious Celestial Dragon, Saint Jalmack!"

Once again, trumpets blare a tune this time playing the anthem of Saint Jalmack.

Ace didn't give a damn who this "Saint" is and he wasn't gonna let this bastard enter the kingdom without getting his personal welcome.

Once the man got close enough, he jumped out onto the carpet running to meet the Celestial Dragon.

"ACE!" Yelled Magra reaching out to him. Dogra in that instant held Luffy back tightly while covering his mouth to minimize catching the attention from the people standing next to them. Luffy desperately wanted to join his brother but his injuries gave Dogra the upper hand.

"JALMACK!" Called Ace. Out of curiosity, the Celestial Dragon jabs his heel onto his human mule to sneer, baffled at this child's behaviour.

"What is with children of this kingdom getting in my way?" He scowled.

"That kid out in the sea! That was my brother! YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!"

"Who?" Said Jalmack, unfazed by the obvious detest on the boy's face, "I've met many people at sea who have gotten in my way." He chuckled looking down on the boy.

"Come down and face me you coward! I'm going to kick your ass and you are going to regret ever seeing me!"

Jalmack squints his eyes, "I don't have all day so you better shut that mouth of yours or I will shut it for you. Count it generous of me." He pulls a flintlock pistol from his robe and aims it at Ace with a faint click alerting it's ammunition being set.

Two guardsmen quickly crossed their spears in front of the boy to push him back into the crowd. At the same time, Magra pushes his way through the crowd to grab Ace's arm. "Let's go Ace! We can't stay here anymore!" Pleaded Magra.

One of the agents from the other side of the Celestial Dragon, unaware of the commotion, cajoled, "Saint Jalmack, the parade is waiting for you at the gates as well."

He turns to look at the man, "Let them wait, there is a brat that's getting on my nerves..." Turning again to look back, a slight scowl grew on his face to find that the boy and the royal guardsmen to have disappeared.

Thanks to Magra's stature and strength, he managed to hold onto the struggling Ace.

"Let me go! I'm not done, I still need to punch him in his stupid face!" He growled while pounding his fists on the bandit's back.

Following closely behind was Dogra and Luffy who was also struggling to be put down. The two bandits were running for their lives as the guardsmen were chasing them them through the last of the crowd.

"Stop! In the name of the Goa Kingdom, you are all under arrest!"

They were weaving left and right from central town to the outskirts. Their breathing became labored from the lengthy sprint, on occasion looking back to see if the relentless guardsmen had paused in their chase. They continued to sprint even past the southern gate back into the Grey Terminal it was a straight sprint from there when the guardsmen finally began to slow down. They were finally within the reach of the forest's edge all they needed to do was lose them there.

"Be quiet Ace! That's enough, you said what you needed to say," said Magra between breaths.

"You too Luffy," added Dogra, "Ace is okay."

Finally entering the woods, they hopped on roots and weaved through the trees as it gradually became dense. They slowed down to a jog to look back one final time and collectively sighed seeing the royal guardsmen were nowhere to be seen. For fear of any chance the guardsmen of ever catching up, the bandits changed to a slower pace regardless of their burning legs and ragged breathing begging them to stop. The two brothers calmed down too. They stopped all kinds of twisting, punching, and yelling to be put down conceding that their struggle was becoming more pointless as they jogged further away from the west docks. Away from the that terrible, so called saint. Their trudge through the concealing woods, which had once held a constant sense of life came to a haunting stop. The coastal winds had stopped moving the branches, as a result the air felt still and maybe a little stale. It was as if Mt. Corbo too was mourning the loss of one of it's dear inhabitants. All that could be heard was the exhausted breaths from the recent escape and footsteps on dry leaves that had fallen off the lush trees. Since they knew the forest so well by living in it for years, their trek through the forest was thought out with a destination in mind. A clearing opened up and the familiar home of the bandits never looked so inviting.

Everyone's head turned when they heard the heavy footsteps of Magra and Dogra walk in with the brothers draped over their shoulders.

"Hey, they're back!"

The bandits surrounded Magra and Dogra as they put down Ace and Luffy next to the smoldering hearth but their somber expressions made everyone hush down. Dadan stepped to the forefront of the group, crossed her arms looking somber as well but to those who knew her saw resignation in her eyes and a meaningful frown as she looked at the two boys.

"What happened?"

"Well," began Dogra, "we arrived when the ship of the Celestial Dragon was near the island.'

"The crowd was cheering, all excited to see them visiting," added Magra.

"Then, for some reason, we see a small ship that was sailing near the path of the Celestial Dragon-"

"We don't know why but the boat was destroyed and-"

"Sabo was killed." Finished Ace and raised his head.

Everyone's eyes had widened from the news except Dadan. Instead her head was slowly shaking and continued to observe the boys.

Luffy's head was still down with his hat casting a shadow over his face but, his shuddering shoulders and quiet sob was doing little to hold himself strong.

Ace continued, "Sabo died and he was killed by Jalmack."

Dadan says, "Jalmack… Saint Jalmack, am I right? Of course. There is not a single day that goes by without a Celestial Dragon killing a loved one."

"He cannot get away with this!"

"He can do whatever he wants," she said sternly

"Dadan!...I'm going back. I'm going to kill him myself."

At the blink of an eye she grabs the back of Ace's head and smashes his face onto the floor. Everyone is jumping back at the sudden attack by their bandit leader. Luffy flinched, his barely contained sobbing started bubbling out.

Dadan unaware yelled at Ace, "He wasn't the one that killed your brother! What good will it do to kill the degenerate? It was the world government that did it! All you would be doing is getting yourself killed!"

In his rage, Ace slammed his fist onto the ground and thankfully with face implanted into the floorboards hid his own budding tears. However, the tragedy and ongoing argument about the event opened the floodgates for Luffy.

With his eyes tightly shut, he took a raspy breath before shouting, "SABO IS DEAD!"

A subtle yet powerful chill spread throughout the room causing everyone to pause and observe the child. His eyes were red and teeth clenched in an ongoing effort to keep a hold of himself even futilely now. His fists were tightly curled to stop his shivering body but it was no use. No use, helpless, just like how he was feeling in that moment, and he abhorred it.

"Sabo…!" He dragged a forearm under his nose to wipe his snot away. "He wasn't happy…!" he cried.

He finally allowed himself to wail his lungs out. It was too much for the child to see his brother so suddenly perish in a fiery explosion by one despicable man. A man that was decidedly untouchable by world government rule.

Ace shoved Dadan away and stomped out of the home.

"Ace! You are not leaving this forest!"

"I'm not going back!" He snarled, stepping past the threshold.

"Magra, take three of the others with you and tie him up. I don't trust him not to do anything stupid."

Luffy was too paralyzed with grief to follow his brother. Instead he collapsed onto his knees before laying on the ground from the pressure of the day's events. The bandits pushed through their slight daze and crowded around him trying console him while Dogra picked him up. His shivering body was placed back onto his sleeping mat to let him tire himself out.

Once the boy's sobbing came to a halt, replaced by quiet breathing, the bandits sighed in relief. The strange chill that overtook the room finally had subsided allowing everyone to shake it off. Dadan pinched the bridge of her nose to try forcing away the enduring headache since morning.

She began, "The sun is almost down, so finish the last of the errands then we are done for the day, is that clear for everyone?"

All the bandits nodded their heads while some whispered their affirmation being mindful of the sleeping child.

"Good. Now get to it."

Everyone scattered except Dogra who stepped forward to stand next to her.

"I'm not their mother Dogra but, I can't help feeling a little guilty for letting them go see those son-of-a-bitches. Tragedy always happens wherever they appear, it's like a running joke with them."

"I understand Dadan but, you know these boys are strong, they will pull through soon enough."

"God I hope so. I'm too young for this crap."

Dogra snorted but immediately straightened when Dadan whips her head to glare at him.

"Did I say something funny?"

"Oh no, no," he said shaking his head.

"Humph. Then get the get the bandages and salve, it's starting to smell."

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Luffy was lying face down on the ground with his hat pulled over his head and fists gripped so tightly on the poor brim of his precious straw hat it was contorting around his fingers. His shoulders again shivered. Ace quietly walked to stand next to him, folding a letter to which he then shoves into his shorts pocket.

They were currently standing on top of a cliff that overlooked the ocean. The sun was shining bright and a calm sea breeze combed past to the trees behind them. The faint sound of waves crashing to the side of the cliff filled the silence.

Ace began, "so all the treasure that we collected with Sabo is lost. He couldn't even use it in the end when he said he was gonna be a pirate but… whatever… I don't care anymore. What's the point in hoarding treasure when you can't even protect it… "

Another pause. Nobody made a move but the silence was infuriating. Ace maintained a stoic expression, staring straight into the horizon, letting the wind tousle his hair.

He glanced at Luffy. "How long are you going to lie there like that?"

A sniffle escapes Luffy. "Ace, I… I want to get stronger!"

Ace gazes across the vast sea without focusing on anything in particular.

"I wanna get stronger and stronger," Luffy's voice picked up force, "and stronger and strongerandstrongerandastronger a-and stronger! So strong! I'll be able to protect anything and no one will have to die so…" he shifts his head to look at his brother, "even you Ace." He sniffles again with a shuddering intake of air. "Please, don't you die too Ace!"

In a split second, Ace turned and slammed his fist onto Luffy's head. "Listen up, Luffy! _I'm not going to die!_ That's a promise, and don't you forget it! You should worry about yourself, you're way weaker than me!"

He stood glaring down at his younger brother when a memory pops up recollecting what happened with the fight against Bluejam. That's right. The night when they faced off against the pirate captain with Dadan. His shoulders drooped but then turned back to staring at the calm sea.

"But… you fought really hard too." Ace sighed, crossing his arms.

Luffy wasn't quite ready to face him so his hat continued to shade his eyes but he sat up, hugging his legs to his torso curious to understand what Ace brought up.

"When Bluejam had us caught in that ring of fire, you were able to weasel away from that pirate who swiped at you with his sword. Then -for some reason when everyone passed out- he was caught off guard and you ran in giving him a damn good kick in the nuts." Ace smirked. Luffy snorted too remembering that attack.

"It gave us enough time to get a good hit on him and let us escape sooner. Though don't let that victory go to your head! Your still my weak little brother. You passed out when we finally defeated him."

"Yeah yeah…" He muttered. Luffy pouted but Ace's words made all the difference. His tears had subsided enough that allowed a calm for once to pass through them.

"Sabo made me promise to look after you and continue your training so that's what I'm gonna do so prepare yourself." Ace dug into his pocket and pulled out the letter he had read earlier.

Luffy turned his head for Ace to discover a reaction that was not expected of the boy. Although his eyes were red and puffy and his nose in a similar state, he grimaced. "_You_ are gonna teach me? By yourself?" he whined.

"Hey! What's that attitude for!? I've trained you!"

"Yea but all you do is pick on me! Sabo would say 'good job' when I did something right." he said reminiscing.

"Ugh do you want me to help you or not? You said you want to get stronger, right?"

He nodded.

"You want to be able to throw a punch harder than a pistol?"

He nodded more enthusiastically.

"You want to someday get stronger than me?"

He nodded so vigorously that his hat sat crooked on his head.

"Well then you just gotta listen to me then. Besides, Sabo gave me some tips on how to train you to actually fight better. Good thing too because we have to rely on each other more."

"What!? Really!?" Luffy's eyes became starry eyed at this opportunity and bloomed a grin that was so missed by friends and family. Ace even smiled a little seeing as his little brother was starting to leave that awful mood and become himself again. Finally Luffy is gonna really, truly become stronger so that he can fulfill his dream and be able to defend everyone.

"We'll staaaaart," Ace taps a finger on his chin, tilting his head, "hmmm tomorrow. I'm kinda tired from yesterday still and I'm hungry. Let's go get something to eat."

Promptly a mighty growl came from their stomach and they both placed a hand over their belly. Just the thought of a hefty meal made their mouth water after skipping breakfast so with a big smile, Luffy stood up and chased after Ace into the forest.

This was the beginning of Luffy's journey to become the strongest person in the world and to earn the coveted title of the Pirate King.

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**Feel free to leave a comment! I would love to read your thoughts on this chapter but remember: Keep it civil.**

**For author notes, please visit tumblr page at /op-power-to-defend . /tumblr . /com**


	2. To Become Strong

I do not own One Piece. All characters and arcs from the original story belongs to Eiichiro Oda. I maintain rights over OCs present in this story.

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Chapter 2 - To Become Strong

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A few days have passed since Saint Jalmack ended his visit to set sail back to where he came from and the Grey Terminal was slowly building back the trash thrown out by the nobles reviving it to the dump it was before. Even the survivors returned to continue their lives of scavenging and selling the valuables found laying around. Business continued as usual within the walled kingdom however, Ace and Luffy were hard at work training to become stronger and adjusting to a life without Sabo.

They were currently standing next to a low bank of the river that flowed through a ravine carved by years of erosion. Their main interest was the bask of crocodiles that infested the calm running water. Why on Earth would these kids be anywhere near this place? To train of course!

"Alright Luffy, I think you are ready to take on this challenge. If you can get past this with no problems, you are definitely strong enough to move on to the next step on the list." He said looking at a crumpled piece of paper.

Ace was looking forward to the completion of this trial. Luffy should be much stronger and just maybe catch up to him in terms of fighting prowess. Then, when they turned back to their usual sparring matches, he would finally be a challenge. At first it was funny to watch Luffy get red in the face from losing so much but, it got boring quickly after having a 100 win streak every day.

Luffy was buzzing with anticipation! Before attempting this, Ace had him practice jumping on rocks to work on his balance and speed. The moment he accomplished it, they immediately decided to try the crocodile test. He was making progress so he must be getting stronger. Luffy glared at the river as if it was his mortal enemy and hopped in place while he swung his arms to warm up.

"And just in case, if anything happens," Ace held up a large roll of rope, "you can grab onto this!" Ace grinned.

"...huh?" Luffy paused to stared at Ace but found he disappeared from his spot behind him.

His coach suddenly appeared on top of the ledge at the edge of the river waving his arms to bring attention where he would be.

"Why are you standing over there?!" Luffy shrieked.

"So I wouldn't get eaten by crocodiles you idiot! How can I help you if I go through the course too?!"

"Oh." Luffy faced back to the green river lit by the scattered sunlight filtered through the treetops. The surface reflected small waves but upon careful inspection, you could see a few snouts and horned eyebrows peeking from the water. They gazed back at their next meal.

Ace called, "Anyways, whenever you think you're in trouble, call 'Rope' and I'll throw down an end for you to hold on. I'll be running along the edge to keep an eye on you. Understand?"

Luffy nodded with his lips pursed.

"Okay then, as you know, you will be running across this straight part of the river to the other side where it turns away. You have to jump on the crocodiles to make it to the other side. Are you you ready?"

"Yup!" Luffy shouted back.

"All right then!-

Ready!"

He took a couple of steps back and changed his stance.

"Set!"

Eyes set on his destination. A gentle hiss emanated from a crocodile somewhere.

"GO!"

The slapping of muddied dirt by his sandals ended once he made his first leap on a rock. He swiftly set foot on the last available stone that laid near the riverbank and having spotted a snout and made his first leap into the challenge.

A tap on the nose was enough to rouse the overgrown lizard to whip its head up. Luffy took advantage and catapulted himself onto the next visible snout.

Ace was following his little brother's sprint across the water. He was flailing his arms here and there to regain balance but he was quick to keep moving on to the next moving platform.

"Go Luffy! Go! You're doing great!"

He started to laugh. "They're so stupid and slow!"

On cue, as if the reptiles heard, they became restless. Their prey was getting away and none of them had made claim yet. One crocodile curled its body to swing both head and tail towards the young boy. Luffy's yelped then made a hard jump to his side landing on the back of another crocodile. The river was infested by the freshwater lizards but their numbers deceived the two boys.

Ace's eyes widened and shouted, "LUFFY!"

The entire surface of the river became the rough skin the bask shared in common. At once they were rising from their camouflaged spot and hissed at Luffy.

He screamed and immediately got up to continue jumping on their heads, backs, and the thick of their tails. Their mouths flew wide open but Luffy was just quick enough to change direction before they snapped at his young flesh. He was stuck at the middle dodging, which made it difficult for him to move forward to the other side of the river but, his determination was something to behold.

Luffy was keeping up! The crocodiles began to pile on top of one another but the raven haired boy, although terrified, was swift in his movements. He quickly made a jump when one got close enough to bite his shirt but another crocodile lunged itself at him and collided forcing the hungry reptiles back into the water. That was the opportunity he needed because it left a quick path out of that mess.

Ace began to jog once again alongside the edge of the cliff. "Yeah! Luffy you're doing it! You're doing it! Don't stop you're getting closer to the end!" He cheered.

However, the crocodiles began to part in Luffy's path. The straw hatted boy scrunched his eyebrows but gasped at the beast who made itself known.

Mt. Corbo is famous for the unusually large animals that inhabited the island and this creature was another testament to that. It's body was about two-thirds wide as the river and it's head large enough to destroy a house in one bite. The creature let loose a booming hiss and swung open it's jaws to welcome Luffy.

Alright, now it's about enough.

"ROPE! Throw it now!" Screamed Luffy while the crocodile lunged its head forward. The boy made a hard jump to the right onto the back of another overgrown lizard narrowly escaping the bite which instead scooped up a few of it's reptilian relatives. Luffy continued to hop past it.

"I'm throwing the rope! It's right in front of you!"

Ace threw a line and Luffy immediately darted towards it. So did the king of the river as it maneuvered it's body to chase the child once again.

A small crocodile tried to snap at him but he used the snout to effectively give him more height and grabbed hold of the rope. The force of the jump caused him to swing a large distance to and back to the massive starving reptile.

Once Ace felt weight tugging at the rope, he tightened his grip until his knuckles became white and heaved back the rope.

"Hold on tight Luffy!"

In the swings of the rope, he flew past between the jaws like a pendulum. It snapped missing every chance.

"PULL ME UP ACE, IT'S STILL FOLLOWING ME!"

"THE SWINGING IS MAKING IT HARD TO PULL YOU UP!"

He began to climb up the rope at the same time swing his body to counteract the movement. The difference was day and night as he finally shot upwards to the cliff edge. The crocodile did not want to go down without a fight.

The beast at the last minute leaped out of the water propelling it's monstrous body with its massive tail and gapping jaw wide open.

Luffy screamed once again but Ace used a final burst of strength and yanked the rope back hard. Luffy curled his body and by a centimeter, the lizard clamped onto nothing but wind. The boy flew over the edge of the cliff and crash landed onto his older brother.

They groaned and Ace shoved Luffy off himself. The straw-hatted boy was no better as he laid on his back hyperventilating and covered in sweat as he recovered his breath and nerves from his near death experience.

Ace breaths,"Maybe we should go back to our one-on-one fights for now…"

"Nuuuuuuuuugh," moaned Luffy.

However in his hazy stupor, he had enough mind to ponder an idea that was nagging at the back of his head.

Ace is a great coach an all, but the list of training exercises weren't giving him the results he hoped for.

Actually, what was the goal of that training exercise? To not get killed?

He almost gets killed everyday when he goes hunting with Ace. How was getting chased by crocodiles going to make him even stronger? They didn't even catch food during the training exercises…but what if…

Who was the strongest person he knew? It was grandpa Garp, of course! He would know something about getting stronger. Not to mention all the cool stories he told about when he was a young marine and the people who kicked butt. They were unbelievably skilled with the way they fought like walk on air, move faster than the eye could see, and even kick blades of wind that could slice even chunks of metal apart but… it meant letting Ace know what he wanted to do at the risk of upsetting him greatly. After all, it means getting someone else to train him in the ways of a _marine_.

Ace glanced at Luffy noticing his breathing steadied. His little brother's face was red and scrunched up as if he smelled something really bad.

"Hey Luffy, whatcha thinkin' about? You're gonna hurt yourself if you keep doing that." Ace snickered.

"Ace?"

"Yea?"

"Um… I want grandpa to train me… "

He shot up from his laying position to glare flabbergasted at the suggestion.

"What!? You think I'm not good enough!?"

Luffy sat up too, "No Ace!"

"Then what are you saying!? Gramps?! GRAMPS!?"

"Well yeah!..." Luffy tapped his pointer fingers together but then he shifted to fully face his brother and set his hands on his knees, eyes set to stare into his older brother's.

"Ace, I want to get really strong and Gramps is SCARY strong. He kicks our butts every time we see him."

"So what's this mean? You wanna become a marine?" He scowled.

"Hell no!" Luffy jumped up.

Ace jumped up as well stomping his way to meet him. "Then how are you gonna get Gramps to teach you, huh!? Say that he does, he's gonna try to brainwash you into becoming one!"

"No he won't because I'm gonna become the pirate king!" Luffy shouted with his fists clenched tight.

They stared each other down, headbutting as if the action physically fought what the other said. However, Ace saw nothing but burning determination and resolve in his little brother's eyes.

Luffy was dead set on becoming the Pirate King and he made that clear when him and Sabo was one day on the cliff declaring at the top of their lungs what they dreamed of doing. The passion he claimed to accomplish his dream was difficult to simply pass it off as a childish whim the was just said at that life changing moment. At this point in his life, Luffy was a weakling with no chance of surviving on his own much less pose trouble to a no-name pirate. Still, Sabo was the one most supportive about his wanting to become the Pirate King. It was thanks to him that Ace was able to curb the pervading scepticism that made him doubt Luffy and instead fill him with worry knowing he needed to train a lot more before he could really follow his dream.

Ace relaxed his shoulders without breaking eye contact as some of the anger boiling ebbed away. His face fell slightly as he remembered that Luffy saw Sabo die too. They both felt helpless in that moment and the solution Luffy had came up with in his simple mind was to become stronger so that he could protect everyone he cared about.

Luffy also backed away and held his breath watching Ace consider his new decision.

He was not gonna become a marine no matter what his grandpa said and Ace grew incredibly supportive of his goal to become stronger. It was exciting that his strong older brother was gonna help him but Sabo left notes with the intention of doing it together. Unfortunately, his notes were difficult to read thanks to his higher education so some of the descriptions were detailed but tricky to understand. Ace made assumptions every paragraph or so to follow the instructions so, training wasn't as accurate as what was said in the paper.

Ace closed his eyes and scrunched his face before taking a deep breath to release the rest of the built up tension in his body.

He exhaled, "alright then… you train with gramps."

Luffy gasped and out shone a face splitting smile. "Thanks Ace!"

"And conveniently enough gramps is gonna be visiting tomorrow, if I've been keeping track right..."

A moment of pause swept throughout the area where they stood.

It was quiet. Too quiet.

The birds weren't chirping, animals weren't scurrying around in the bushes, even the crocodiles have stopped hissing leaving the sounds of wind brushing through the treetops and running water flowing through the ravine.

"luffy!... ace!"

Their ears perked at the faint sound of their names being called in the forest.

"Luffy!... Ace!" A voice called again.

Ace's face blanched, eyes widened and Luffy likewise shared the same sense of fear.

"...Oh," Ace whispered, "nevermind, I lost track."

"LUFFY! ACE! I'M GONNA FIND YOU TWO!"

The boys stood to look in the direction of the voice, the sound of leaves and sticks being crushed becoming louder with every step the man took.

Panic crossed their faces but Ace was the first to steady himself and stop Luffy who was running in circles.

"What do we do WHAT DO WE DO-"

Ace gripped Luffy's shoulders, "Listen up. You wanted to ask for the old man's help so we can't run this time."

Luffy nodded his head. Ace continued, "We are gonna stay here and wait for him to yell at us then you can tell him, okay?"

Luffy nodded his head even more rigorously until he noticed a detail of what his older brother said. "Wait, I'M TELLING HIM? BY MYSELF?"

He shook his head incredulously, "You're the one who wants to train with him seriously, not me!"

Garp punched a tree out of his way forcing the massive trunk to splinter in half from the point of impact and fall away from him and his grandsons.

"THERE YOU BOTH ARE! What are you doing here, there are huge alligators swimming around here. I should know since I wrestled them myself." He added looking quite pleased with himself stomping his way over to the brothers.

Garp was a large man but not in the sense of weight but the muscle that stayed even into his older years. His skin was a dark tan from all those years at sea with the sun shining bright on him and his hair a faded charcoal color with a grey stripe around the sides of his hair. He wore a red floral tropical shirt and grey khaki shorts which clearly indicated that it was his day off, it was only when he was working when he wore his white suit and coat, so this was a regular visit which indicated his intention was to spend a few days with his grandsons.

"When I heard Luffy's screaming I just knew that you two were playing around! Bwahahahaha! Say, why aren't you saying hello to your grandpa? Or do I need to teach you some manners again, huh?!"

They both stood still trying to wait out Garp's tiny rant until he noticed that they didn't scream and run this time. Normally at that sight of him they would attempt to run faster than the speed of light. Now, they watched him, nervous eyes shifting to look at each other as if they were trying to communicate telepathically.

Garp placed his hands on his hips as he regarded their behaviour. Not one of them said anything but they obviously were hiding something.

"Alright, what is going on? It's quiet and it's beginning to worry me. You two haven't gone into too much trouble now haven't you?" He quirked an eyebrow while waiting for an answer.

Luffy looked at Ace one more time before he was shoved forward with an elbow. He glared at Ace and rubbed his side before finally facing his grandpa.

He began, "Gramps..."

"Spit it out, we don't have all day."

"I want you to train me." Luffy said with his head held high.

Garp as expected grinned and chuckled. "Oh!? So you finally admit it? You really want to become a marine like your old man?"

"HECK NO! I WANNA BECOME PIRATE KING!" Luffy yelled.

A deep frown replaced his shining grin. "Then what makes you think I'm gonna train you!? What about how I train you now? Do you want me to be tougher?"

"No! That not it," Ace interrupted, "look, Luffy wants you to train him because he wants to become stronger."

Garp crossed his arms, "I am already doing enough. I'm assuming your demanding the special training they do back at headquarters. I remember sharing stories about it..." He squints an eye and tilts his head, "what is going on?" He pointedly looks at his youngest grandson, "and why do you want my special training if you don't want to become a marine?"

Their shoulders dropped and their countenance became somber.

Ace sighed, "...Luffy and I… saw Sabo get killed a few weeks ago."

Garp's eyes widened. How did he look that over? After Ace befriended Sabo, every visit he would see both of them playing together being rambunctious children as they are. They became even closer when Luffy became friends with them and even started to call each other brothers. It was wonderful to see Ace happier than he ever was his whole life. He was killed?

"How?" He asked.

"By Saint Jalmack. He was a celestial dragon visiting the Goa Kingdom." Ace spat when mentioning The Guest's name.

Garp's arms became limp and turned away to the tree stump he created which he next sat on the ground to lean on. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he hoped to drive away the million thoughts that were rushing though his mind.

Luffy and Ace were shocked to see such a dramatic reaction, but Ace took it as an opportunity to ask his grandfather something that crossed his mind when he was arguing with his little brother about marine training.

He slightly squinted his eyes and turned his head, "Gramps you know something and I wanna ask you something that I noticed. Why wasn't the asshole arrested for murder? Weren't the marines about catching criminals who kill innocent people."

Luffy stared at his Grandpa who still remained unmoving from his spot. He balled his hands into fists.

"Gramps, where were they...? Where were they when he killed our brother. Actually, why was the people at the Goa Kingdom cheering even though they saw a kid get blown up and not do anything!?" His anger was starting to rise again.

Garp removed his hand from his face but still avoided to look at them.

"_Luffy_ saw Sabo get blown up into fiery pieces."

Their grandfather finally raised his head to ultimately look at his youngest grandson. Luffy gave back a hardened gaze with a stance that didn't belong on the happy child. Luffy was a very friendly kid who grew attached very easily to people that he liked, including Sabo who he had looked up to as a brother.

How tragic it must have been to see him disappear so suddenly.

"It's because of what happened why he is asking for the special training." Ace said.

"So," Luffy cut in, "train me. I want to become even stronger."

Garp peered back with sympathetic eyes but what Luffy had said next ended his argument.

"I want to become stronger, so I can protect everyone," Luffy said with conviction.

Again, something that did not belong on happy child.

Even if he wanted to become a pirate, not to mention _the Pirate King_, he was still a good kid. A pirate with a heart and good intentions, how unbelievable. Luffy was stubborn if not persistent when he set his heart on something.

Garp groaned then muttered, "Alright... I'll train you."

Both brothers stepped back with wide eyes and whipped their heads to look at each other. They couldn't believe it! It turned out so easy to convince him. He knew full well that Luffy wanted to become a pirate and yet he is agreeing to teaching him.

"Let's go back to Dadan's place," Garp said begrudgingly standing up to lead them through the forest.

As they made their trek through the forest Ace asks, "So Gramps, what was it that you were gonna teach Luffy? The six powers, right?"

"That's right. It takes a lot of training and dedication to do it. That means you have to listen to me and do everything I tell you, _Luffy_." He glanced at his grandson.

"Okay! I'll do my best!" he declared with his head high.

"So you have to start reading some books and learn how to write more as a part of your training."

"WHAT!? But that's boring!" he whined, "How is that gonna make me stronger?"

"Bwahahaha! Discipline! It's one thing to know how to throw a punch, it's another to know how to fight-" He checked over his shoulder but his previous jovial mood changed into irritated disappointment.

Ace and Luffy were following behind however they stared blankly at him with their pinky fingers up their noses.

"Anyways, it would be much cooler if you had actual super powers," Ace commented.

A flash of familiarity crossed Luffy's mind. "Super powers?"

"Actually something like that exists." Garp mused.

"What!? No way! Real superpowers? Like the kind that people can shoot lasers from their eyes!?" raved eldest grandson.

The three finally stepped into the clearing where the cabin home of the mountain bandits resided as well as the brothers.

"Yep! Pretty awesome to see with your own eyes. BUT! It doesn't mean that they are invincible! With some good training, like what I'm going to teach you Luffy, they can be knocked out with one punch. Bwahahaha! Just like your own grandpa- see? Becoming a marine has its benefits!" He said before stepping over the threshold of the door.

They both groaned and Ace turning to Luffy rolled his eyes and said, "you see? I told you he was gonna try to brainwash you."

"People get these superpowers by eating these things called Devil Fruits." Garp added while ignoring Ace.

Their eyes sparkled in wonder.

The pack of bandits inside in side the home collectively directed their attention to the intruders and in an instant fear washed over once they recognized who it was.

Dadan was the first to defend herself, "GARP! How good it is to see you visit again!"

"Hello Dadan. Where is that snail I left here?"

She blinked. "Snail…? Uuuuh…" She peered around the room as she insisted through her eyes that her men help her.

With divine grace, one of the men whose behavior is as idiotic as he appeared, spoke up from his sitting position next to the snail. Most notable was the fact that the man was feeding lettuce to a snail of remarkable size.

"The snail is right here Boss," the bandit chuckled, "and she is very hungry today!" The snail giggled as the man poked it causing it to wiggle.

Garp commended, "There it is! Thanks Dadan, I was worried for a minute there."

Dadan nodded her head with a strained grin as she jumped aside to avoid any sort of contact with the intimidating elder.

With a wave of his hand, the bandit was shooed away and he picked up the receiver that the large snail was still set up with.

"Whoa what is that?" Said Ace surprised.

"Where was it hiding?" Added Luffy.

"Aww you guys didn't see it cause we covered it with a towel and were using it as a table-" said the idiot bandit before his friends nearly strangled him trying shut his mouth.

Garp, pretending he didn't hear the bandits explained, "This snail is called a Mother Transponder Snail. The range is so wide I can call anybody who has any kind of transponder snail too."

Ace's bright eyes shined at the mysterious snail that seemed to be so powerful. Luffy was in awe as well but his excitement was stunted by a nagging memory that was trying to resurface at the mention of a devil fruit. He had heard it before…

He perked up once his memory rushed backed to when he was spending time with Shanks at Patty's Bar run by Makino….

[]|[]|[]|[]|[]|[]|[]|[]

"HAHAHAHAHA You can't handle being a pirate! Not being able to swim is a pirate's greatest weakness!"

Luffy argued, "As long as I stay on board of the ship, I'll be fine! Besides, my fighting is pretty good too! I've rigorously trained before, my punch is as strong as pistol fire!"

Feigning boredom, Shanks rested his chin on his hand. "Pistol? Wow... really?"

"WHAT KIND OF TONE IS THAT!?" yelled the offended child.

After a bit more teasing of the ambitious kid and a few words of wisdom from Benn Beckman, the first mate of the Red Hair Pirates, as to why Shanks was being so silly about hearing his desire of becoming a pirate, Luffy turned to Shanks who was eating and asked, "Shanks?"

"What is it?" He glances at him as he continued to enjoy his meal.

"How long are you gonna stay?"

He paused for a moment to think. "Well... It's almost been a year since we used this town as our base...I plan on setting sail a couple more times then we'll leave town and head north."

Luffy bit off a piece of meat stabbed on his fork then hummed with his mouth full, "A couple of times hmm... I'll learn how to swim by then," he decided then continued to chew.

Shanks smirked then smiled to himself. He admired the kid's resolve to become a strong and dependable pirate so he commended with a shrug of his shoulders, "Alright! Good luck!"

Suddenly, the bar door smashed open letting in a group of shady men, leading them was a slim and dirty looking man who called himself Higuma. The bandit emitted an overconfident air about him as he scanned the room, judging the faces staring back at him in nonchalance.

He called attention, "Excuse me! Hehehe so this is what pirates look like, huh? This is the first time I've seen pirates. They look pretty dumb to me." He made his way to the counter taking slow, relaxed, carefree steps. Indifferent to the newcomer, the red-haired pirates in turn silently watched as he stood in front of Shanks.

In the corner of Beckman's eye, he noticed Luffy, who probably was sensing the tension in the room decided he needed a snack to watch how the confrontation unraveled. Out of curiosity, the kid reached into the chest they brought in earlier placed next to him on the counter and took out a large purple fruit.

"Oi Luffy!"

"Huh?"

"Don't touch that fruit."

The raven-haired boy pouted. "Why?"

Shanks turned his head to look at them, finding Luffy holding the devil fruit they had stored in the chest. He quickly reached out and yanked it out of his hand.

"Give me that!"

"Hey!"

"Oi what's the trouble here? Didn't you hear me?" Said the mountain bandit who was slowly becoming irked at how calm everyone seemed to be towards his presence.

"We are mountain bandits-"

"-Sure," interrupted Shanks without looking at him, "Luffy don't touch this fruit it's dangerous."

"What? I thought it was dessert!"

"You don't want to eat this it tastes digusti-"

"PIRATE!" They stopped to look at the bandit as he swayed closer towards Shanks and drawled, "I came here to get my sake, do you know where it is?" Higuma glared at all the pirates in the bar suspecting they have done exactly what he was guessing.

"I'm sorry-" Makino intervened, "-but we are out of sake."

As the bandit sauntered up to the bar, Shanks tosses the fruit to Lucky Roo who catches it using the chest that once contained it.

"That's strange," said the mountain bandit as he reached the counter top to stand next to the captain, "Then what are they drinking? Is it water?"

"It's sake," Shanks answered.

"But that's all we have," Makino added.

"I'm sorry, looks like we've finished all the sake here sorry about that. Here," Shanks showed him his drink, "if you don't mind take the last bottle."

Higuma snatched the bottle from his hand and turned it, noting the size and weight of the container. He pondered the drink, hearing the liquid inside slosh around then glanced at the pirate captain with the corner of his eyes who was quietly awaiting his response.

At the blink of an eye Higuma swung the bottle and shattered it on Shanks's head, spilling the drink all over him leaving his clothes drenched.

Reactions throughout the room was mixed. Makino and Luffy were shocked, the bandits were smug, and the Red-haired Pirates _still_ watched on unimpressed. One of them even yawned.

"Just who do you think I am? Don't take me so lightly one bottle isn't enough." He sneered.

Shanks checked himself over. His clothes was sticking to him and he began to reek even more of booze. The liquid was all over the counter leaving a mess that Makino had to clean up. He commented, "oh nooo now the floor is all wet."

Higuma got in his face and held up a brown paper with fraying edges that displayed his bounty, "See this? My head is worth eight million beli. I'm one of the prime fugitives here and I've killed 56 people before, you cocky bastard." He straightened up a bit and rolled his bounty poster up before stuffing it back into his dark brown coat while he smiled to himself, "Now that you know who I am, _don't_ mess with us again. After all, mountain bandits and sea pirates don't mingle very well."

Still not convinced by the mountain bandit, Shanks got off his stool and crouched down to pick up pieces of the broken bottle, "Sorry about that, Makino, do you have a mop?"

She quickly walked to where he was from behind the counter, "Ah...It's alright I'll clean it up..."

Higuma was has having none of it. He was irritated with Shanks's calm demeanor so, he unsheathed his sword and swiped it across the counter sending more tableware crashing on the ground next to the pirate captain. Makino yelped jumping back to avoid his sword and Luffy flinched feeling wary with what was transpiring.

Higuma drawled while looking down on red-haired, "Well it seems you really enjoy cleaning. Now you can enjoy doing it more." He turned and sauntered out of the bar leading away the rest of his bandit crew after he added, "Hmmph!... Later, you bunch of chickens."

For a moment it was quiet. It was tense while they waited for the bandits to leave so that they were out of earshot. The red haired pirates observed their captain to see what he would do next...

Shanks began to cackle…then they all bursted out laughing with some choked on their food and coughed it out while others spat their drinks pounding their fist on their table. One cackled, "he got you good captain!"

Luffy at first was bewildered at their reaction then became completely enraged and disappointed with their reactions, especially the red-haired man he looked up to.

"That was disgraceful! Why didn't you fight him? So what if they have more people?! Who laughs after getting picked on!? You're not a man and you're not a pirate either!" In a huff, he jumps down from his stool and glowered at him.

Shanks with a few tears in his eyes raised his palms. "Look I know how you feel but it's just a bottle of sake, there's nothing to get worked up about."

"I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN COWARD!" Then he turns and starts stomping away.

"Oh C'mon-Don't go Luffy!" Before he left any further, Shanks reaches out to grab Luffy's arm.

"No! Lemme go!"

"C'mere Luffy I still have something important to tell you."

Exasperated, Luffy turned to glare at him and yanked his arm away out of his grip. He crossed his arms and began to pout expecting an explanation to the incredible lack of action he saw against that annoying mountain bandit.

"If you don't mind the fact that I'm still covered in sake, I hope you'll take me seriously after I say this. I don't care about anything he said or what he did to me. Isn't that right, crew?" The pirates collectively chuckled nodding their heads. Lucky Roo joked, "Our captain looked so silly. He's right though."

Luffy was still not convinced but the captain continued as he stood up and sat on one of the stools patting the the one next to him urging Luffy to do the same. "It's true that any one of us could have taken him down but what's the point? He wanted to show off how big and bad he was because he heard a couple of pirates decided to go to his favorite bar. You see how mad he was when I didn't pay any attention to him? He wasn't worth the time."

"But he picked on you! Punch him to make him stop, not walk away leaving you covered in sake!"

"Would it? I think it's funnier to let him think that he is intimidating at all."

Annoyed, Luffy whipped his head away before shutting his eyes, "Hmph! Still."

Shanks rested his head in his hand and shifted his eyes to gaze at Makino who shot him a demure smile and moved around the counter to throw away the glass shards. She was certainly grateful that Shanks was being a somewhat good influence on the boy.

Shanks was internally congratulating himself on gaining a bit more favor from Makino but, Luffy was a good kid too and he would understand what he was talking about when he's older.

Shanks straightened up a bit and added as he moved his attention back to the kid, "Give yourself ten years and you'll see what I mean," he stood up to walk out of the bar muttering to himself, "and damn I gotta change these clothes now..."

"Wait…! I have a question."

"No."

Luffy frowns. "What do you mean 'No'!?"

"Hehehe I'm just messing with you, what?"

"What is that fruit? Why is it so dangerous that I can't eat it?"

He pauses to think about what he could tell him. "It gives you powers."

"What!? No way!"

"But it takes away your ability to swim forever," he warned.

"AAHH!? NO!"

"Yep and you don't want to eat one because not only does it taste really really bad, only kids eat them. If you wanna be a man, you gotta do it through hard work in your training, then maybe you could have a punch as strong as a pistol. Eating those fruits only make you a cheater instead."

Luffy puffs up his chest to express his conviction, "I am no cheater! I am a man!"

"Then don't eat'em. Anyways kid, see ya. Hey Makino, I'll leave you money to pay for his food." He shifted through his pockets and placed the beli on the counter.

Shanks then faced his crew and nodded his head at the exit to signal their leave. As a massive group, they walk out of the bar taking along their mystery fruit away in their hands.

* * *

Sorry I'm taking so long working on this fic. I am in fact working on it I'm just having a lot of trouble trying to figure out how to bridge my plans for the story and to not make it weird. I want to post the next chapters when I finish the East Blue Sage so until then, be patient, it's to give me time to not stress about people's opinions and just share it. So to thank you all, here's a new chapter so you all know it's till being worked on. This chapter was finished months ago.

Feel free to leave a comment! I would love to read your thoughts on this chapter but remember: Keep it civil.

For more author notes, please visit tumblr page at /op-power-to-defend . /tumblr . /com


	3. Dawn of Adventure

I do not own One Piece. All characters and arcs from the original story belongs to Eiichiro Oda. I maintain rights over OCs present in this story.

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Chapter 3 - Dawn of Adventure

* * *

It was finally the day that Luffy set out on his great adventure. He was going to become the King of the Pirates and by the promise to his dear role model Red-haired Shanks, he was determined to do it. Nobody or anything was going to stop him from achieving this dream.

Unfortunately Shanks risked his life, specifically his left arm, saving Luffy from the Lord of the Coast due to his inability to swim. Still, the Red-haired captain was very forgiving about his torn left arm and gifted his treasured Straw Hat to remember the promise that they weren't gonna meet again until Monkey D. Luffy became a great pirate.

All that training Luffy did was finally gonna be put into good use now that he finally turned seventeen. Grandpa Garp put him through absolute hell as promised to gain mastery in the Six Powers as expected of higher ranked marines to fight against powerful pirates out in the four Blues and the Grandline. They even traveled to other islands as well every couple of months in the East Blue on a boat lent by a kind fan of Garp in Windmill Village to take advantage of the wild fauna and climate to temper his mettle.

Luffy's rigorous training regimen also led to the successful unlocking of his haki. Conqueror's Haki during training was surprising since it is rare. It appeared after a confrontation from a hoard of giant wild animals that overwhelmed Luffy but he was having a hard time keeping up since he was sustaining heavy injuries. Garp was soon to intervene but then Luffy stood his ground, faced the onslaught of savage beasts with a nasty glare that stopped their immediate rampage. Luffy was baffled watching the animals turn tail but to Garp, it signaled that it was time to go into mental fortification by meditation to tap into his will in order to develop the other two Haki.

Focus took all the discipline Luffy needed to accomplish it and did he need it. His attention span and whining was definitely something Garp had to work through but eventually Luffy grew out of it when he noticed the progress he was making. Haki was an easy enough addition to his training since some of the Six Power moves had a similar element. In particular, the repeated use of Tekkai led to the development of Armament Haki and Kami-e to Observation Haki from dodge practice.

As a part of his training, he was forced to read more books on basics of navigation, nautical literature holding stories often shared by sailors, fictional novels, geography of the East Blue, and general history. He even practiced writing for whenever he needs to write a letter or jot down his adventures into his log books for when he starts sailing. They even dove into mathematics as far as algebra, but no more since Garp wasn't a math genius himself. Just enough where Luffy can understand it. At least a little.

Luffy's adventure began with the midday sun high up in the blue sky shining upon the sea making the crystal blue waves look so bright it forced one's eyes to squint. A cool ocean breeze passed salty air over the humble town called Windmill Village where the villagers stood to watch at the docks, waving wistful goodbyes to the young straw-hatted man who set out to sea in pursuit of his dream.

Even harder was to watch Luffy sail away on his tiny bare necessities boat while wearing a red vest, light blue jeans, sandals, and his treasured yellow straw hat with a red ribbon wrapped around the base of the cap. All the villagers knew he carried along with him for his adventure was a small leather rucksack that he held over his shoulder and one apple that he was tossing in one hand while he stood patiently…

"Aaaah...The weather sure is nice today," Luffy mused.

With no warning, the ocean erupts where the water is disturbed by a rising sea monster causing waves to rock the small boat. This was the same sea monster, called by the villagers as The Lord of the Coast, that had attacked him and bit off Shank's arm ten years ago. This time around, Luffy wasn't gonna let this beast think that he was gonna be an easy meal.

The Lord of the Coast glared and gave a booming growl at Luffy but he kept tossing the apple in his hand staring back with a cheerful grin. It hissed ready to swallow him whole in one bite so the massive sea serpent lunged at the young adventurer believing to finish his journey at that spot. Once the creature got close enough Luffy threw his apple rocketing into the air and in the blink of an eye grabbed the monster's snout and leveled it's face approximately to his.

Luffy scowled, "Listen you overgrown snake, I don't like you for what you did to Shanks so I'm not feeling too happy to see your stupid face."

The Lord of the Coast quivered with its' eyes wide open at the sudden change of events. The tiny human somehow imposed a terrifying presence with a grip that the hand could not wrap around the entirety of the sea creature's muzzle but an instinctual pressure that could somehow be felt throughout their entire body kept it still.

"At first I was gonna slice you in half but then I thought of something better. So here is what's gonna happen, you are gonna take me to the next island and then you are gonna scram so that I won't ever see your face again."

The creature tried to nod its head but Luffy maintained a tight grip.

"And you will never-" his eyes flashed with a hint of haki, "-come back to this village. Got it?"

The Lord of the Coast whined an affirmative growl.

"Good! So let's go!" Luffy said then grinned and let the monster's snout slip away from his palm. On time, the apple fell back into Luffy's waiting hand.

At the sight of the quick resolution to the town's sea serpent problem, the villagers' eyes were popping out of their skulls and their bottom jaws reached the ground. Some decided to leave in disbelief but those who stayed watched him jump onto the sea monster's head and swim away. They knew he was working hard to become strong but how strong was a mystery to them until now.

Luffy made himself comfortable as he sat himself on top of the sea serpent's head and took a bite out of the apple he was saving for the trip. At one point during the journey the serpent swam around a whirlpool that spontaneously formed. Luffy couldn't help but muse how unfortunate an event it would have been if he had been caught up in it.

Finishing his apple by tossing the core into his mouth, he lounged a while more until he began to think out loud, "I'll have to find some friends first. I will get ten people to join my crew buuuut the world is so big, I could recruit a few more. Then, I'll make a flag!"

With exuberance he next hollered, raising his arms, "Alright then, LET'S GO! I'LL BECOME KING OF THE PIRATES! WAHOO!"

Soon the journey became a matter of waiting with no land in sight, only water as far as his eyes could see. He even pondered if the sea creature had taken him to the Calm Belt but an ocean breeze was still blowing and the waves were still crashing about. Luffy just let the sea serpent travel wherever it thought land was but the boredom became insufferable. To find some reprieve, he tuned into his Observation Haki and surveyed the area around him.

With the help of pure luck, he soon found a large collection of auras that indicated a gathering of people. It could possibly mean that land was getting closer.

His stomach started to complain. "Uuuugh I'm hungry. If there's people, then theres gotta be food. Hey you big idiot," Luffy pounded the sea creature's head then pointed at a certain direction, "I sense something over there so go!" The beast made a cheery growl excited that it's time of service would soon end.

However instead of land Luffy originally thought, as they got closer, it was a large ship. To be more specific, a cruise ship. The kind that wealthy people like to sail around in.

"Ooooooh, and when there are rich people there is a lot of fancy food," he said, mouth already watering in anticipation.

From the perspective of three sailors that were on lookout on the cruise ship, they were surprised to say the least, to watch a young man jump off the head of a massive sea serpent leaning it's head over the rail then get uppercut away from the ship.

Luffy adjusted his bag over his shoulder and took a moment to get his bearing. It was a huge cruise ship with a white hull, white rails, and sails of the same color to match. Although the deck's paneling was yellow, everything looked especially clean as well as barren. No one was on the top deck but upon a quick recheck, Luffy sensed all the passengers were inside and along with it, the irresistible smell of spices, charred meat, and grilled fish wafting from a nearby door. He also sensed the sailors watching him.

One of them called out from the crow's nest, "HEY YOU!" Then redirected his call, "-Look! Someone just boarded our ship!"

Luffy turned to see two sailors in their white uniforms rush towards him but stopped to where they deemed as a safe distance. The straw-hatted intruder was somehow able to board onto their ship from atop a dangerous sea monster.

After a quick glance amongst the two, they straightened their backs and with no idea how to approach the situation one asked to start, "Hey kid, um...W-we are not sure how you got here on an admittedly impressive _escort_ but we…,"

The other sailor pitched in, "-still need you to identify yourself so they we may let the captain know of your presence and help you-"

"Thanks but I'm just here to get something to eat so see ya later," he said waving as he walked towards the door he spotted earlier.

"Wait!" Sternly said one of the sailors with the other close by, "You can't just board a ship-"

"Don't worry, I won't cause any trouble. I'm just gonna do my business and, now that I think about it, I''l stay here too until we reach the next island. You won't know I'm here," Luffy added before passing the threshold.

Tasked now with apprehending a stowaway, they drew their pistols they never thought they would use and tailed the straw-hatted intruder.

Walking alongside the railing of the top floor, he peered down to observe the passengers dancing in the center of the floor to ballroom music provided by a small orchestra. For the onlookers, round tables were situated around the dancefloor to rest or eat he guessed since there were lonely plates of half eaten lunch on a couple of the tables.

Finally, he spotted what he was looking for. At the back of the ballroom, passengers passed by a long grand table from one wall of the room to the other. It was decorated with succulent delicacies kept well stocked by the waiters who come out of the kitchens to place freshly made dishes for guests to pick from.

Luffy drooled but came back into focus once he heard footsteps quickly approaching him. It was the two sailors from before but this time determined with their pistols drawn and pointed at his head.

"Keep your hands where we can see them. You are under custody of the ship's security and you must follow us peacefully so that we may figure out what to do with you or face further imprisonment with the marines," one of the sailors threatened.

Of course they followed him, it was their job to keep the peace on the cruise ship from a possible threat. However, whatever he did next would force him into a miniature jail cell or call the marines if they were spooked too badly and start shooting everywhere trying to kill him or at least chase him out.

Luckily an idea popped into his mind. Luffy's hunger was getting to be unbearable and while it is not the best idea, it could save him some time until he was forced to leave. Shame, the festivities looked sorta fun.

Before they could react, Luffy disappeared from their sight to reappear behind them. He clutched the sailor's heads and slammed them together, knocking them out. He went ahead to steal a hat and a shirt from one of the two sailors and laced it over his current outfit. Last but not least, his rucksack that contained exactly three articles of clothing, can't forget that. The rest of the uniform was left alone. He thought the entire ensemble looked stupid and he never wore shoes in his entire life and he wasn't about to start now.

They were gonna kick him out anyways so it should be enough to fool the other employees as he picked out food to scarf down with plenty of time to spare. After stuffing their bodies into a convenient janitor's closet, he made his way down after spotting a set of stairs that led to the bottom floor.

He weaved through the crowd, stepping on some toes and shoving some socialites aside causing many dirty looks thrown at him. Stopping before his objective, a mischievous grin spread across his face as he gazed upon the large selection of gourmet cuisine. He picked up a shiny silver platter and started with his favorite food, the meats. He piled on the ribs, pork, roasted chicken legs, and grilled fish while eating a few others straight off the plates of other guests with his fingers.

A hand tapped his shoulder.

He turned around to face a young woman and for a moment their eyes locked. She had the warmest looking chocolate brown eyes and short bright orange hair, a color that was reminiscent of a sunset. She looked about the same age as him and wore a simple long blue dress that flattered her lean figure.

She gave him a wide smile and said, "Hi! I'm so glad to see you!" For added effect, she squinted her eyes and held her hands to her chest.

He couldn't help but stare at the sudden presence of this girl though she seemed innocent enough….

The girl looked over her shoulder and Luffy followed suit, leaning aside to spot another sailor who seemed to be looking for something or maybe someone…

"Can you come with me for a bit? I need some fresh air." She swiped the silver plate from his hand and placed it on the buffet table.

"Hey! I wa eabing dat!"

She quickly threaded her arm through his and yanked him away without looking back.

"Wa arb you doim?" He complained with his mouth still full. He pulled back but she tightened her hold and further tore him away from his meal.

"Sorry I just wanted to get out...um," she glanced at him and pointed to a corner of her mouth, "you got a little something…"

"Oh? Soby!" His mouth is so stuffed that it made his cheeks comically puffed out. Bits and crumbs were stuck around his mouth which probably explained why some of the guests they walked by were looking at him with disgust. He successfully swallowed everything in one gulp and wiped his face with the shirt sleeve of his free arm. She scrunched her face but humored it and smiled despite his gross manners.

In the girl's peripheral, she spotted a couple more sailors gather round at the buffet table where they were standing. One however caught sight of her and started to inform his coworkers.

She gasped then turned to her new raven haired friend and insisted, "Hey, I feel like dancing do you? Come on, let's go."

She led him to the middle of the dance floor hidden in the crowd of dancers. She needed to be more discreet to avoid attracting more attention to herself but pull her off her next plan, she needed full cooperation from the glutinous young man.

As they maneuvered their way around the dancers, the orange haired girl grabbed one of Luffy's hands and placed the other hand on her hip.

She whispered in his ear, "Hey, can you dance?"

"Dance? Like these guys? Sure." He shrugged.

He immediately took lead changing into picture perfect posture, much to the surprise of the girl, and fell into step to the rhythm of the song. She stumbled a few steps but Luffy held her steady with his right hand splayed on her left shoulder blade and the other grasping her right hand tightly to give her a sense of direction. She was still having trouble keeping up, not that she was an experienced dancer, but knew enough to be considered passable to those who watched. He moved so well around the other dancers there was not a single incidence of bumping into anyone.

She stared at the stranger wary of who she found out of nowhere but Luffy simply smiled back enjoying himself with well practiced steps. He was even humming, not quite to the tune but to the beat of the song.

"Oh you are quite the dancer. You're pretty good," the orange haired girl complimented.

"Thanks! A friend I used to have taught me how to."

"Must be a pretty good friend to teach you something so dignified as ballroom dancing."

"Yeah it wasn't easy. She got mad a lot cause I kept stepping on her feet."

"Well look at you now! It's as if you were born to do it."

"And you suck at it, shishishishishi."

"Thanks." She deadpanned.

"Don't worry about it though-," He quickly spun the girl to his chest, "learning dances like this are boring but…"

Luffy then spun her around causing her dress to lightly flair out, leaned her back, then swinged back into familiar steps, "When you're with an interesting dance partner, it can be very fun instead." He smiled.

His grin encouraged a small one of her own.

She couldn't stop looking at his guy. There was something about him that words couldn't describe. He wasn't the best looking guy in the world but the few words he uttered told her of his charm and his smile- oh god his smile-was also really cute and just blinding. His dark brown eyes were filled with amusement that told of his cheery disposition and juvenile behavior.

Maybe it was time to ditch the stranger and move on. She could feel herself putting too much thought about her dance partner who was only supposed to be used as cover.

As they continued to dance, the girl switched to watching their surroundings by scanning the perimeter of the ballroom floor. There were a few more sailors patrolling trying to pick out the intruder. The majority have never seen her face but were given an idea thanks to the jerk who was previously seeking her out and described her appearance to the other sailors. It was time to get out of there soon and be on the lookout for her get away boat.

She looked back at Luffy to discover he hadn't stopped staring at her nor lost track of their gliding footwork across the dancefloor but before she could question his odd behavior he said in a hushed tone, "you're a stowaway like me shishishishi!"

"What? What are you talking about?" She giggled avoiding eye contact.

"You keep looking around like you're paranoid or trying to not get spotted."

"And what about you huh?" She whispered angrily, "what do you mean- you're a stowaway? You're wearing a uniform-"

But then she peeked at his entire appearance and tensed up noticing his uniform was incomplete. She tugged his lapel aside to discover a red shirt underneath, glance at his pants that were most certainly not white suit pants but instead jeans, sandals instead of black shoes, and a straw hat that was poorly hidden under a uniform issued cap. Not to mention the most obvious offence- a small leather bag strapped over his shoulder. He was on a ship that had been cruising for hours, where was he going? How was he going to leave? By flying!?

She was so worried about being caught, she didn't think to look at who she was asking to dance with. At a glance she assumed he was a total imbecile of a sailor who didn't remember the rules about eating the guest's food. An easy fool to distract while she made her getaway.

Luffy chuckled as he watched her horrified revelation flash across her face as she made sense of her situation. However his amusement was cut short as he focused on his haki.

Luffy was so distracted by the mysterious stranger that he failed to sense the growing mass of malicious intent that was just about arriving to board the cruise ship.

A sharp whistle ringed before an explosion tore a hole into the side of the ship launching shards of lumber onto the startled passengers. Soon more cannonballs shot enlarged the opening and filled the ballroom with more smoke and wood dust.

The orange-haired girl bumped into Luffy's chest with an embrace then turned to shield her from debris.

Within the panicking crowd someone shouted, "PIRATES! WE ARE BEING INVADED!"

People ran screaming in disarray, tripping over each other and grabbing their loved ones to escape to the nearest exits. The crowd scrambled away from the entrance leaving Luffy and the orange haired girl standing on the now abandoned dance floor.

Worried she tugged at his shirt. "Hey! Don't just stand there, we have to get out of here!"

"LISTEN UP!" Bellowed the pirate captain as She made herself visible after stepping out of the settling smoke. The crew flooded in behind her.

The pirate captain was a large and handsome woman dressed in a pink plaid shirt, a red neckerchief, and a dark blue coat that seemed a little too tight to fit her. She sauntered in with a devious smile, swinging a massive iron club as tall as she was as if it weighed a mere gram. She rested her weapon on her shoulder, stopping a little ways from the entrance to observe her future financial prospect.

The pirates quickly followed the passengers to the exits to shut them in the ballroom while dragging a few back into the room. Their cutlasses and flintlock pistols are drawn to keep them corralled.

In a sudden mood swing, the irritated pirate captain scowled, replacing her malicious grin by the lack of attention she was getting since they were so preoccupied with leaving and crying.

"OI! LISTEN UP!" She shouted, her voice reaching incredible volumes that made everyone stop in their tracks.

"This is a raid!...We aren't going to kill you!" Her crew chuckled. "All you have to do is give us your jewelry and all the money you greedy bastards have in your wallets and nobody gets hurt."

The crew got to work getting their bags open to swipe all the money, jewelry, and any valuables the passengers had on their person. Although she said that nobody got hurt as long as they cooperated, the pirates still whacked a few to their amusement.

Caught in the middle she wanted nothing to be a part of, the orange haired girl gulped when the pirate captain finally set her eyes on the two standing alone on the dance floor.

Luffy stood defiantly at her scorn and stared back with a glare of his own.

"YOU!" She started swinging her club to point at the two. "I know you Nami, by the way, where is the treasure you said there was on this ship?"

She jumped and took a step away from her dance partner. "O-oh it's in the captain's quarters, there was just so much he had hidden, I couldn't carry anything down."

"Hmph suuuure. Well stop fooling around and go back to the ship. I'll deal with you later…"

Nami at first was hesitant. She looked back at her mysterious acquaintance as she walked but in response gave her a nod as if it was gonna be okay. How could he be so calm confronting this behemoth of a woman? She could sit on him and the fight would be over. Nami took one more glance back as she stepped on the plank that bridged the two ships and he raised his eyebrows.

God what was she doing? Why did she care so much what was happening to him.

"And you kid," the pirate captain said pointing at Luffy, "are beyond _stupid_ to stand before me, ALVIDA OF THE ALVIDA PIRATES."

"Hi! My name's Monkey D. Luffy and you seem to like being a party crasher."

"Heh, for half a second I thought you might have been Roronoa Zoro earlier with that cute little glare of yours."

Alvida began to meander past the hostages, keeping them intimidated, also circling Luffy.

"The what pirates?" He quirked his head.

While overseeing her crew's progress she continued, "Exactly. If anything, it looked like you were having fun with my ugly little cabin girl, you stupid boy."

"Ugly? You're out of your mind," muttered Luffy

"Well of course, compared to me!" She began, selectively ignoring what he said about her. She stood before him, blocking the largest exit in the room trying so damn hard to scare him. He didn't shiver or gaze upon her in terror when her large, voluptuous body even casted a shadow over him. Instead, he appeared annoyed by her intimidation tactic. Still, her evil grin didn't falter. Not for this chump.

She looked at her crew and terrified passengers as they played as her audience, "Let me ask all of you! My looks are of no compare!"

Luffy rolled his eyes.

"In all the seas! Who is the most beautiful of them all!?"

Her crew shouted and the crowd followed along,

"It is you, Captain Alvida!"

"You are the most beautiful, Captain Alvida!"

"So very beautiful, Alvida!"

Bluntly, "Not the ugly bitch who won't stop yammering!"

Every single entity within the ballroom gasped at Luffy. Alvida and her crew had their mouths gaping open like a fish out of water but the captain quickly regained her composure and refocused her attention to give the nastiest scowl the world has ever seen.

She stomped her foot causing an audible crack of the wooden flooring. "What was that!? I don't think I heard you!"

Alvida's crew objected,

"THAT KID…!"

"HE DARES TO…!"

"ARE YOU LOOKING TO GET YOUR ASS BEAT!?"

Alvida got in his face and spat, "You cheeky bastard- answer this question first before you die! What is the most beautiful thing in the sea!?"

Luffy grimaced, "No. You're rude and your breath stinks really bad!"

Out of sight of the crew Nami was hiding behind one of the tables in the room. She did indeed cross the bridge but then she sneaked back after peeking over the railing. The pirate crew was spectating the two people who were standing in the midday sun shining over them like a spotlight created by the room's skylight. They stood in the center of the room and appeared itching to break into a fight.

Out of sight of the crew Nami was hiding behind one of the tables in the room. She did indeed cross the bridge but then she sneaked back after peeking over the railing. The pirate crew was spectating the two people standing in the middle of the dance floor who appeared itching to break into a fight. Light filtering through the skylight from the midday sun shined on them like a spotlight.

Nami's eyes widened, concerned for the stowaway. He showed no signs of fear by the way that he stood still, or the steady irritation that seemed to be rolling off of him. Who was he really?

She sneaked back onto Alvida's ship and hid behind the railing again when she was called.

"Nami!" From the far side of the ship a lavender haired girl called.

"Nojiko!" Nami called back waiting until she ran to her side.

"Nami what are you doing? Let's get out of here, the marines are almost at the ship!" Nojiko chided.

"I know but I just can't leave the poor idiot behind." She said, still watching the two.

"Who?"

"A stowaway I met…"

"So? Let the marines deal with him, they are right here now let's go!"

Nami whipped her head to finally look at her older sister, "But it's my fault that he's in this situation about to get attacked by Alvida."

"He's gonna be fine, help is on the way."

"Nojiko you aren't seeing this look...please," Nami pleaded.

She growled then rolled her eyes and peered over the railing as well to find Alvida with some kid.

Nami reasoned, "that guy who Alvida is talking to helped me buy some time from getting caught. If it wasn't for him I would be stuck in a cage who knows where on the ship, and we would be wasting more time cause you would have to come save me."

After some deliberation, Nojiko looked at her little sister once again who was staring back with a pout.

Nojiko sighed. "Fine. Another one for our tiny boat of rescues apparently."

Her older sister looked over the railing once again but her eyes widened to what was happening next. "Oh no- don't look now but we might be too late."

Nami quickly joined and fell into distress.

"Alright BRAT!" Alvida spat in his face then took a step back to give herself space to push as much power for a wide swing to land hard on Luffy's head. "Prepare to be SMASHED!"

She lifted the club high above her head and swung it down with the weight of her upper body giving it an extra boost.

Her crew was watching elated to see the carnage of an idiot kid who had the nerve to face their strong captain. The passengers looked on with fear and pity for the young man's life and with heavy hearts feeling helpless knowing there was nothing they could do. Nami covered her gasping mouth.

Luffy thought otherwise. He reached above his head and grabbed the blunt end of the club with one hand just before it landed onto the top of his skull. Shock dawned on Alvida's face in wonder of how he was not only quick to stop the swing but strong enough to force a sudden halt from such a large and heavy club within an inch to his noggin.

Luffy peeped underneath the brim of his hat and spotted Nami watching from the other ship and smirked. Next he raised his head and flicked the brim to at last regard his enemy.

When she thought she couldn't have been more surprised, Alvida was startled, "H-how did you stop my bludgeon!? Nobody can just stop it before impact!"

"You ruined a nice little party when everyone was minding their own business and you scared my dancing partner. I think it's time that you leave me and the people here alone. I'm gonna borrow this club you're using if you don't mind."

He yanked the club out of her hands and waved the weapon around as if it was as light as a feather testing its weight. Once satisfied, he quickly changed into a stance holding the club like a baseball bat.

"N-n-no wait!"

"See ya later!"

He swung the bludgeon to her gut hard enough that it briefly caused her whole body to wrap around it. She was sent flying through a hole in the ceiling she made with her own torso then disappeared into the sky flying away out of all possible sight. Nami and Nojiko watched frozen in place with their jaws dropped.

The pirates looked on in panic at what had transpired. They yelped, "Captain?! Alvida was beaten by that monster!"

Then they all looked at the each other and reasoned,

"But he's by himself!"

"He can't take on all of us at once."

"We'll avenge you Captain Alvida!"

They suddenly switched to dropping their spoils of stolen valuables and drew their weapons at him.

"Uh-oh. Looks like I'm in trouble," Luffy chuckled scratching the back of his head.

"U-uh hey! You with the straw hat! Come on! Let's get out of here!"

Once he boarded the other ship the pirates tried to cross the plank acting as a bridge but Nojiko pushed them back by unraveling her whip. She coiled the end around the neck of one of them and yanked the guy close to kick him in the gut sending him stumbling back into the rushing hoard tripping them and causing a few to fall into the water or back into the cruise liner. Luffy crossed his arms and nodded then punched the plank acting as a bridge into two pieces leaving the pirate crew stuck on the cruise ship.

"Sorry guys but you gotta stay here!" He said then ran following the girls.

Soon, the Marines were nearing the cruise liner sending warning shots to the pirate ship. With no time to lose, Luffy followed Nami and the lavender haired girl all the way to the back of the ship to a small boat ready with a pudgy kid with pink hair and round framed glasses and a bag of treasure seated.

Once the dingy dropped and splashed onto the water, the girls quickly picked up the oars but the straw hatted young man plucked them out of their hands. "Allow me." Then proceeded to row with strokes so powerful that it caused the boat to fly across the surface of the water.

The group all grasped the edges of the boat held on for dear life, startled at the spontaneous burst of speed the lean boy was able to send them. However, their skid across the ocean's surface ended to a short drift when both of the oars snapped in half.

"WHA?" Exclaimed Luffy. "Well that's that I guess. At least we escaped right?"

Everyone loosened up from their petrified position and scanned their surroundings. Sure enough, nothing but sparkling cerulean waters and not a single ship in sight. They all nodded their heads in response.

His smile faltered a little. Maybe it was the fantastic speeds he was able to propel the boat or how he was able to send Alvida flying that made them wary if he was gonna be a threat or not. He guessed it was a very uncommon sight.

"So, your name iiis," began Luffy speaking to the girl in front of him.

Nami blinked. "Oh, um, Nami! Yeah heh that's me."

"And who are your friends?"

"Um this is my older sister Nojiko and the kid next to me is Coby," she pointed out. They timidly waved back and said their hellos.

"Hi!" Luffy stuck out his hand to the orange haired girl. "My name is Monkey D. Luffy and I'm gonna be the Pirate King," he said, giving a grin.

"WHAT!?"

In an instant, Nami and Coby scrambled to the farthest side of the boat away from the admitted pirate. Nojiko paled but she reached her arms out in a protective manner and reasoned, "hold on a second mister pirate. Let's just negotiate for a bit and I'll make it worthwhile. Obviously you can see we have some treasure we stole from Captain Alvida."

Now Luffy expected this kind of reaction because calling yourself the future Pirate King is ballsy. Especially in an era where a lot of the scary big name pirates in the East Blue would claim to want the same thing. Even calling yourself a pirate is alarming since they have a reputation to cause destruction and misery but he doesn't regret revealing his identity to strangers even if it would make getting friends difficult. For some reason however, seeing the orange haired girl cower away bothered him more than he understood. Her eyes held fear but somehow a hint of betrayal strangely shone through as well.

Seeing as the situation needed to be defused he raised his hands in a placating manner, "easy Easy! I'm not gonna hurt you guys. Thanks to Nami for helping me out I was saved from the marines, and in a way Alvida so, don't worry. Any sister or friend of Nami is a friend of mine. Let's be friends!" He once again held his hand out. More so to Nami than her sister who was still in front of her protectively.

Nojiko contemplated his proposed truce and dropped her arms but still sat guarded. Nami on the other hand could not help but gaze once more into his dark eyes. Somehow, he was able to exude trustworthiness, a quality so baffling that it would be coming from someone who says they are a pirate. She couldn't help but relax somewhat from his few words of reassurance. Granted, he has done nothing to them other than help their escape.

Hesitant, Nami sat next to Nojiko again and reached out to shaked his hand. They locked eyes once again, their touch filled them with a faint warmth overcome her being. Luffy was perplexed by the feeling that was encompassing him but paid no mind as it left as soon as it came. Nami in turn felt the same however it held a nagging sense of familiarity. She didn't dwell on it any further since it was pointless to dwell on it given the current situation. She needed to keep and eye out for any sudden changes to Luffy's generosity. They finally separated and the feeling drifted away with it.

Nojiko watched curiously at their extended handshake. The moment accompanied a strange vibe that left her feeling suspicious but ignored it since there was much more important matters to worry about. Coby sat wary of the tense atmosphere.

Nojiko reminded, "now that introductions have ended, we should probably start thinking of a way to keep moving to the next island."

"Huh? O-oh yeah! Coby, where is the closest island again?" said Nami.

"It's Shells Town and I think it's by going… East?" Coby pondered.

While the three were discussing their next course of action, Luffy noticed in the distance a modest sized ship heading in their direction.

"Hey you guys," Luffy said gathering their attention, "there's another ship over there. I think they are coming towards us."

Concerned, all three looked in the direction Luffy pointed to and he was right but there was something else about the ship that was becoming more apparent the closer it was sailing.

Coby dug out his collapsible telescope from his pocket and peered into it confirming, "oh no, it's not just any ship! It's a pirate ship with a crew known as the Gangplank Pirates!"

It was a brown and blue galleon with accents of gold and possessed a figure head of a white dugong. The mainsail had a picture of an angry skull with two planks of wood crossed behind it. On the very top of the main mast was another jolly roger flapping in the wind with a picture of a skull and crossbones with a sorrowful expression and a purple crescent moon behind it.

"You're right mister Luffy, there is another ship and now we are gonna get caught and be forced to work for pirates. AGAIN," Coby groaned.

They all had comical tears running on their faces.

A devious grin grew as Luffy insinuated, "Hold on, we don't have a way to start moving since the oars broke so what if…"

After pondering his cryptic words, Nojiko objected, "NO No no you cannot be thinking what I think you are thinking because if are then you are _insane_."

"Luffy let's do something else, what if we just... rowed with our hands! Come on, with your help the island cannot be that far!" Nami begged.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" Luffy shouted, waving his arms. "Too late! The ship is heading right here shishishishishi."

"YOU CALLED THEM OVER HERE YOU IDIOT!" Nami yelled punching his head. He yelped and rubbed the bump on his head.

Once the ship got close enough to the boat, two pirates unfurled a ladder over the railing into it. Luffy paused to consider the girls behind him. "Uh Ladies first?"

They made a hard pass by a light push and nervous chuckle.

Coby attempted to do the same but the girls shoved the poor kid up the ladder.

Shaking his head Luffy climbed to the main deck finding himself surrounded by the pirate crew with their swords and guns drawn but not pointed at him yet as they were on standby. The Captain stood at the forefront with his arms crossed to greet him. The pirate leader sported a thin curly mustache with short black hair stuffed under his tricorn hat. His large coat made him look grandiose with the generous amount of gold embroidery, red velvet fabric, and feathering around the collar and cuffs of his sleeves.

"Eeep!" Squeaked the three who climbed up and scrambled to hide behind Luffy.

"Heh heh heh you four must have gotten into quite the trouble to be stranded out into the middle of the sea. With no sail _and_ no oars," said the captain with a chuckle.

"Yeah I broke the paddles on accident. Say, I was wondering if we can hitch a ride with you guys," asked Luffy.

He narrowed an eye and nodded as he judged them. "Sure! I am Captain Walker of the-"

"Gangplank pirates? Huge fan." Nami piped up to stand next to Luffy. "It's so great to meet you in person! I've heard tons of stories about your exploits in finding treasures from villages."

The captain twirled his mustache. "Aaah! So you've heard of me. Of course you have, I am famous after all, what-with my 8 million belli bounty."

Putting on her sweetest face Nami adds, "As you can see, we are having some trouble and we want to reach a place called Shells Town."

Coby sneaked behind her then tugged her shirt and whispered, "Nami! You shouldn't have said that."

The pirates started to voice their objections. The captain picked up on this and found out, "Shell's Town eh? That place houses a marine base, what do you want us to do? Get captured?"

"N-no! Not at all!" She said shaking her hands in front of her.

"Buuut-" Captain walker drew his cutlass, hushing his crew, and raised it to Nami's neck. "You can get a ride...for a price. I will help myself to that treasure you got in that dingy of yours."

Without Nami and Nojiko noticing, they jumped when they heard the pirates plop down the large sack of treasure on the deck. Luffy however was picking his nose with his pinky finger.

"And maybe…" The captain eyeballed Nami. He pressed the flat side of his blade to the bottom of her jaw, lifted her face up so that she could face him. "I'll take you as well." Her face blanched.

Luffy clamped two fingers on the blade and tiled it far away from his friend's neck bringing the Captain's attention to his sharp glare.

"How about we take your ship instead? I tried to be nice and all but it looks like you just want to hurt my friends."

The man twisted an end of his mustache, musing at the nerve the straw hatted kid had to draw his sword aside. He cackled, "He he he Is that a threat? You seem to have forgotten that you are surrounded by my crew ready to slice you into tiny pieces. That would be overkill since I alone am strong enough to take on all four of you."

"Fight me then if you're so strong," taunted Luffy.

"I know I'm strong! Let's have a little fight, we were getting a little bored anyways." The crew proceeded to make a circle around them, cheering and hollering at the soon start battle. Was it gonna be the young castaway who foolishly believes he can take on a real pirate or the Captain who commands a whole crew of 30 men who are ready to fight at a moment's notice. The Captain withdrew his blade then handed it over to a nearby crew member along with his coat.

Luffy took a few steps back while shrugging off his sailor's shirt and hat that was his disguise then stretched his shoulders. Nami grabbed his arm, "What the hell are you doing you idiot?!"

"Relax Nami I got this," he said, patting her head.

"You're nothing but an overconfident brat who thinks he can take on a whole pirate crew. Get ready to walk the plank." All the pirates cackled.

"Nami, Nojiko, Coby, stand back. This will be over really quick." Luffy ordered while shifting his stance.

Nojiko grabbed her rolled up whip and glared. Nami walked backwards into Coby and fumbled assembling her staff feeling things were about to get ugly soon.

Even though she was scared she could not help remember when Luffy was able to send Alvida flying with her own club. Can he take on a whole crew? He was indeed able to defeat a single dangerous pirate captain with her own weapon by sending her into the stratosphere. Now here he was challenging this captain too, like he believed he was strong enough to take him down...

"I sure hope not!" Nojiko yelled in response to Luffy. She expected the worst for his well being but not without a fight was she gonna let her sister get into any more trouble. She unrolled her whip that was hung on her hip and let it spread itself out as she faced the pirates behind her, ready to take out the first pirate who dared to lunge at her.

Coby trembled frozen in place as he grasped his head and frantically searched for a break in their formation.

Captain Walker shouted, "Kill them!"

In a second Luffy roundhouse kicked the captain in the chest knocking the wind out of him and into the rail on the other side of the ship nearly snapping his neck from the recoil. Then he spun around and punched a few in the face or sweeped their legs out to knock them over and shoved many of them into each other since the pirates were trying to win by overwhelming the four. He laughed as he watched every pirate miss a swipe of their sword and gunshot trying their absolute best to get a single scratch on him.

Nojiko coiled her whip around the neck of a pirate and yanked him in throwing a sharp stomp on his nose with a sickening crunch. Gracefully, she moved on to cracking her whip front and behind her hitting them in their eyes temporarily blinding them. Next switched to hooking her whip around the necks of the pirate crew and shoved them around into the other as they started to close in on her.

"Don't worry Nami, we'll make it out alive. Just hold on!" Nojiko yelled.

Nami twirled her staff around jabbing the men in the gut and throat. She spinned to whack others on the sides of their heads knocking those out cold. Her skill in combat with a staff, although good enough to protect herself, was still limited since she and her sister almost always opted to avoid conflict. This was entirely out of her scope and it began to show.

She gasped when one of the men grasped her staff, halting her rounds to a full stop. The pirate grinned showing off his rotten teeth and metal replacements, then aimed his pistol straight at her forehead. Nami clamped her eyes shut as her only weapon of defense was taken down and with no obvious escape to run to.

Suddenly, the pirate's head jerked to the side as a puncture hole splattered open on both sides of his head causing him to collapse with his pistol and loosened grip. The pirates surrounding her jolted back startled by Luffy's sudden appearance sticking his arm out with two fingers pointing making his hand look like a gun.

He glared at the crew. "Stop pointing crap at Nami and fight like men you jerks!" He disappeared and one by one the men fell over with broken legs, arms or both.

"AH!" Nami yelped when Luffy reappeared in front of her.

"How many times has it been? Twice? Three times that you had a weapon pointed at you? Jeez you must get cornered a lot, you really can't let your guard down." Luffy said while shaking his head.

The rest of the conflict stuttered to a halt when they saw their comrades drop like flies. It happened so fast they wondered if there was an intruder that had joined the fray but when they found none, surrender seemed like a good idea. Their captain was still knocked out cold by a single kick from the straw hatted kid and more than three quarters were not able to stand up due to him.

Luffy had a bright grin as he watched Nami rub her eyes. He tidied himself and ran his fingers through his hair before adjusting his hat. "So, you fight with a staff, huh? That's pretty cool! My brothers and I did too all the time when we were kids! What a coincidence Shishishi."

"We surrender!" The pirates pleaded after dropping their weapons and raised their hands.

Coby peeked from behind a nearby barrel baffled at how quickly the fight had ended. They were curb stomped!

Luffy suggested, "Hey Nojiko let's tie them up too so they don't cause trouble when those that are knocked out wake up again."

The lavender haired girl quickly raveled her whip and frantically searched for a rope which Coby had already found and handed her the roll. They worked together to drag the crew into clusters and wrapped them up to sit them between the stairs near the bow of the ship

"Wha-? How did you do that?" Nami stuttered.

"Do what?" Luffy chirped.

She flailed her arms around towards the dead pirate on the ground then pointed to the pirate crew that was just finished being tied up.

"I kicked their ass? Also I need to throw that body overboard cause it's disturbing." He tilted his head, grimacing at the dead pirate.

"I can see that! But you just disappeared! Then everyone just fell over! QU-QUICK."

"Yeah. The fight was kinda fun at first but then it got boring seeing how the captain was knocked out so easily." Luffy said as he hoisted the fresh corpse over his shoulder and walked towards the captain.

Nami watched him as he threw over the body and regarded the captain still lying unconscious against the railing. She was worried if he was gonna kill the man too, not that she cared since all pirates were scum but she still had standards, instead he grabbed the collar of the captain and dragged him to the rest of the pile.

"You are unbelievable," she whispered, crossing her arms and watching him as he gazed smiling in return. Once again his strength is shown to be far greater than she thought. He seems so kind too, however unpredictable considering what he did to the pirate who had her cornered but it was out of necessity to save her as well as Nojiko and Coby. Why? Out of friendship he claimed which is preposterous to risk one's life over someone you just met but here they were.

She thought it was time to remove her disguise to feel more comfortable. Once her dress slipped off, underneath revealed a white t-shirt with blue stripes, an orange skirt with yellow rings colored brown within and short red heeled boots.

Turning his attention to Nojiko and Coby, Luffy examined the ropes. Nojiko quirked an eyebrow as she watched him hooking a finger around the rope and tugged at it, testing it's tightness. "Looks good if you ask me. Great job!" He smiled.

"Uh thanks," Nojiko said scratching the back of her head, "you too?...for beating up the pirates…?"

"Mr. Luffy! That was amazing! Scary but amazing!" Coby gushed.

Nami jogged to where they were while looking around the ship to judge it's condition. It was pretty big but modest enough that maybe they could actually manage to sail it. She nodded to the group and smiled appreciatively. "Now that we have a working sail it looks like we can finally get to Shells Town."

"Great! So what do we do?" Nojiko said, rubbing her hands together.

"I need two of you to work the sails on the foremast and someone to steer the ship. Actually, let me do that so I can get us in the right direction. Coby you follow me. You know this part of the seas better than I do." She said while making her way to the helm.

Luffy whipped his head, catching an important detail in Nami's plan, "Wait, you know how to sail a ship?"

"More like navigate. Watch and learn Luffy, let's put that strength to work," Nojiko urged while shoving him towards one side of the ship.

So they got into place to adjust the sails by the girl's directions until she called out for the finishing touch.

"Okay you guys, now turn the sail to about 12 degrees northeast."

The deck was silent. Not much was stirring other than the moaning pirates that were starting to wake up.

A random crew member shouted, "Oi girlie, sorry to burst your pride but navigating with so few people is impossible."

"It's alright little one, if you untie us we can do all the work for you." Another said sarcastically encouraging everyone to cackle.

"Shut up! Or I'll kick all of your asses again!" Luffy shouted, stopping the pirate crew's chuckle. They wouldn't dare try to get out of the ropes either as long as Luffy was around to knock them out again. He would every now and then glance at the pirates, they'd flinch and feel a shiver go up their spines.

Nami sneered at them, but then looked back up into the sky pacing a short ways, clasping her hands together. "Come on, come on," she muttered.

After a few seconds of deliberation, the sail snapped into form catching a gale of wind, lurching the ship forward into an incredible speed.

"Yes!" Nami smiled to herself.

"WhaHoo!" Luffy cheered while holding onto the top of his hat.

"Hahahaha the look on all of your faces!" Nojiko cheered as well.

Passing the pirates who sat eating their words, Nami walked down the stairs, sliding her hand along the rail with her nose turned up to where her friends convened to meet at the middle of the main deck.

"That was incredible Nami!" Shouted Luffy. It was quite the sight to behold. To be able to direct a ship's course with such expertise, it was as if it was second nature to her. He was growing more and more elated as they continued to commend her.

Nami smirked and pointed to herself, "Well not to brag but, you're looking at the best navigator in the East Blue."

"The whole world you mean," praised Nojiko crossing her arms.

"Oh stop it." Nami rolled her eyes but secretly loved the attention.

Coby complimented, "I can believe it! Remember how you made Alvida's ship sail really fast thanks to your directions? You even predicted whirlpools that would form on our way to the cruise liner by almost half an hour! That was super cool. The crew's navigator was so mad."

"No really. Stop with the compliments or her head's gonna explode from growing so big," Nojiko jokes while being playfully shoved by Nami.

"Nami," Luffy softly called.

She changed her attention to him to feel his hand grip his shoulder. His wide grin and joy ever present on his face so focused on her it made the orange haired girl develop a faint blush.

He insisted, "Nami join my crew."

He's gotta have her join him on his adventure through the Grandline. With skills like that, it's only natural he have a navigator like her.

Her previous joy soon became grim since it brought back a fact about the straw hatted boy she wished he stopped bringing up.

Nami shoved his hand off her shoulder. "Not a chance. For your information: I. Hate. Pirates."

Luffy's grin shrank but it still persisted. So she hated pirates. It explains the reaction when he revealed that he wanted to become the pirate king. It hurts though, that her immediate reaction to pirates is hatred. Sure the word has earned its ire amongst average citizens but, not all pirates are bad. Take Red-haired Shanks for example. That guy was cool and saved his life in fact.

Nojiko added, "Sorry kid but, we got problems of our own to attend to and we're a two person team." She draped her arm over Nami's shoulder.

"That's okay! You can join too!"

"Huh?"

"You are a good fighter, right? And you are really good at using a whip and work really well with Nami so you can be a great addition to my crew." Turns out, even Nojiko felt the same about pirates. Luffy understood family, cause when one decides to dislike something it's difficult to not follow their lead. It was gonna be difficult to recruit the orange haired navigator to his crew.

"I think we are gonna pass on your much unwanted offer," Nami muttered.

"Well think about it, I'll welcome you with open arms if you ever change your mind," Luffy offered.

"Yeah right." Nami rolled her eyes.

"No seriously! After all, I only need the best to join my crew of the future pirate king!"

Nojiko raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "Wait what's up with that? You're joking right? You don't actually think you are going to become the future Pirate King, do you?"

"Not to mention that's very dangerous!" Coby feared, "it means you have to find the 'world's greatest treasure', the One Piece! All the pirates in the world are looking for that treasure!"

"Well so am I," Luffy said, laying his hands on his hips.

"You can't say that for sure." Nami doubted with Nojiko who nodded along.

"It's impossible, utterly impossible! You should forget it and do something else, it's not worth it!"

Coby was whacked upside the head and he clutched his head to bear the pain. "OWW! W...Why'd you hit me!?"

"Because I couldn't stand your yapping," Luffy said bluntly.

"That's a little harsh," Nami commented.

"Oh..well I'm used to it heh heh heh." Coby conceded while rubbing the pain on the back of his head.

In this day and age, terrifying pirates were out and about fighting to claim the legendary treasure. The man in front of them looked so normal and and not at all intimidating. You would think pirates who say they wanted the coveted title would have a large ship and a whole crew prepared for such a big undertaking.

Just then, they found out that Luffy was still looking for a navigator. Yet, he held himself with unshakable confidence as he shared his dream.

Luffy took off his hat and flipped it, staring as the frayed edges and listened to the faint crinkle the straw made. He then looked upon the group before him and said, "It's my dream and I think I can do it although it could get pretty tough." Then placed it back on his head.

A chuckle bubbled out from one of the bundles of the tied up pirate crew. The captain raised his head, ending his mirth with a cough.

He advised, "You should give up now boy. The road to the One piece is long and perilous. You will die the second you enter the pirate's graveyard, I guarantee it."

"I'm not afraid to die," Luffy said without sparing a glance.

Then refocused his attention on his friends and continued, "It's my dream and I'm willing to die for it, that's why I also need a strong crew."

"Whatever you say brat. You are way in over your head and you know it," said the pirate captain.

Luffy rolled his eyes but then a memory popped up in his mind. Alvida had mentioned something interesting upon their first meeting. There was someone she had mistaken him for...

"Hey Coby, do you happen to know of a guy called eh, Roronoa Zoro?"

* * *

So here's another chapter to tide you over until I finish the East Blue Saga. I assure you that I am working on it. I even have moral support from fellow fans from a One Piece discord that I follow. There will be progress cause there is so much story shit I want to share, I cannot drop it. I can only hope that you kind readers will stay around even if it takes forever to update.

Feel free to leave a comment! I would love to read your thoughts on this chapter but remember: Keep it civil.

For more author notes, please visit tumblr page at /op-power-to-defend . /tumblr . /com


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